Chapter 728 Reversing Fate
Chapter 729 Reversing Fate
Zubov squinted at Malachowski and said viciously:
"I warn you, your actions will bring terrible disasters to your country!"
"We are used to disasters." Malachowski pushed the armistice agreement text in front of him forward again, "And Russia, which caused these disasters, must return every inch of Poland's territory, and this treaty can be signed. This is a resolution unanimously passed by our parliament."
"The resolution of the Polish Parliament? Haha." Zubov laughed disdainfully, "You are facing the three most powerful countries in Europe, and it is not your turn to make any resolutions here."
As he said, he looked at the Prussian and Austrian negotiators beside him, as if seeking support.
However, Prussian Foreign Minister Fredericks simply nodded.
Count Rheinfels of Austria looked at the ceiling and said:
"Well, the treaty must be signed as soon as possible."
Both of them had just noticed keenly that the Poles only demanded that Russia must return the territory, and did not mention Prussia and Austria at all.
The attitude of the Poles was obviously aimed at Russia. This is also easy to understand. After all, it was Russia that provoked this war, and the Eastern Front was also the main battlefield.
So why should they stand up for Russia?
Lord Grenville, who served as the "mediation envoy", did not make any statement - the only countries Britain wanted to win over were Prussia and Austria, and weakening Russia was the strategic direction that Britain always adhered to.
Not surprisingly, the first round of negotiations ended in a deadlock soon.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Zubov left the negotiation hall cursing after making threats for the umpteenth time.
Although Malachowski was very tough on the surface, he was actually very nervous, so much so that his hands under the table kept shaking slightly.
After all, he was facing powerful countries like Russia, Prussia and Austria, none of which Poland could afford to offend.
And he knew that Poland's national strength had reached its limit. If the armistice agreement was not signed this time, Poland would be in danger of collapse.
But he still accepted Mr. Sieyès's negotiation suggestions - the various national policies proposed by this French friend to Poland before were finally proved to be extremely correct.
He could only hope that this time would be the same.
After the dinner prepared by the King of Saxony, the representatives of each country returned to their rooms.
Count Rheinfels' assistant changed into a servant's clothes and quietly slipped into Malachowski's residence.
After a frank communication, the Austrian concealed his excitement and asked:
"In other words, the Polish government has no objection to our armistice conditions?"
"Yes." Malachowski nodded, "Austria and our country are both Catholic countries. There are many volunteers in the civilian population who participated in the holy war to help us resist the Russian army. Our country is willing to make concessions to your country.
"But you know that the anti-Russian sentiment in our country is extremely high at present. The parliament must be tough on Russia, otherwise it will be opposed by the whole country!"
"Yes, yes, I understand very well."
An hour later, representatives of Prussia, Austria and Britain gathered in Lord Grenville's room.
"Except for war reparations and limiting the number of troops, the Poles basically accepted our conditions. Oh, they want to have full management of Gdansk, but they can guarantee Prussia's right to use the port and preferential policies for merchant ships. ”
The Port of Gdansk originally does business with Eastern European countries, and Prussian merchant ships are an important source of income, so the Polish government certainly does not object to Prussia's use of the port.
"Then, the only obstacle to the signing of the agreement is Russia's attitude."
Frederichs nodded: "Perhaps, we can put some pressure on Russia. To be honest, if Russia had not performed so poorly in the war, we would not waste our breath with the Poles here."
Lord Grenville immediately stated: "We really don't need to continue fighting with Poland because of Russia."
Britain is the country that most hopes to stop the war as soon as possible - only if Prussia and Austria withdraw from the Polish battlefield can Britain pull them into the war against France.
At the negotiation meeting the next day, Zubov still repeated the old tune, saying that all of Russia's demands must be met.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Count Rheinfels continued: "I think we should all show sincerity to end this war, especially Russia."
"What? "
Frederichs nodded and said, "We are considering giving up some of our rights in Gdansk, even though our army is still surrounding it. Russia is actually in a state of withdrawing from Minsk and Mozyr. It seems inappropriate to force control of the two places..."
Zubov glared at the two angrily: "What are you talking about? This war was won by Russia! You actually want us to give up our interests!"
Grenville suddenly whispered: "Count Zubov, our investment in Donbass has been affected by the damage to the Crimean port."
"..."
Zubov's eyes widened. He felt that the negotiation seemed to be all against him.
After a week of hard negotiations, Russia, Prussia, Austria and Poland finally reached an agreement on the terms of the armistice.
Of course, Russia was forced to agree by the three "allies".
On March 21, the "Dresden Treaty" was officially signed.
The treaty stipulates that Austria will obtain the central and western regions of Sandomierz according to the "actual occupation zone".
According to the "actually occupied area", Prussia obtained the three provinces of Poznan, Kalisz and Gniezno. And it obtained the right to use the port of Gdansk together with Poland.
According to the "actually occupied area", Russia obtained the part of Minsk and Mozyr on the east side of the Dnieper River - this part only accounts for less than 15% of the area of the two provinces. In fact, the east bank of the Dnieper River is full of Orthodox residents. Once the war breaks out, Russia can occupy it almost instantly.
Therefore, the Polish Parliament finally agreed to give up these two small pieces of land - if there is another war with Russia, Poland will be able to rely on the Dnieper River for defense.
Neither Russia, Prussia, nor Austria noticed that Malachowski must use the term "actually controlled area" in the treaty.
This was naturally the suggestion of Joseph, who had seen a lot of international disputes in later generations.
Don't underestimate the change of this word, it turned Poland's ceding of territory into "occupation by foreign countries". After dozens or hundreds of years, if Poland really has the ability to take back these places, this will become a handle for arguing.
In the eyes of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, as long as the territory is obtained, these "differences in expression" in the text have no effect.
That afternoon, Malachowski returned to Warsaw with the treaty in a solemn manner.
For him, this was definitely a huge humiliation for Poland.
However, compared with the "Second War" in history, which caused Poland to lose 60% of its territory, Poland's losses this time were minimal.
Moreover, through the Great Patriotic War, Poland has generated great cohesion, and the achievements of constitutionalism and reform have been preserved.
In the future, Poland will get rid of the fate of being constantly divided and eventually destroyed!
